If you can’t make it to the Olympics as an athlete, the next best thing would be to do it as a coach. One Southern California resident has done just that.

Alex Rodriguez, a former standout at Bonita High School and Pepperdine and current coach at Pomona-Pitzer, is serving as an assistant coach for the United States Men’s National Water Polo Team which is in the midst of a youth movement.

The U.S. team, one of 12 in the field in Rio de Janeiro, is 1-2 in its six-team pool with the next match coming up today against Montenegro. The top four teams in each of the two pools advance to elimination play.

Rodriguez has rubbed elbows with some of the top American athletes in the Olympic Village. He has yet to attend another event but plans to watch the U.S. men’s basketball game before he departs Brazil.

“It has definitely been an eye-opening experience,” said Rodriguez, 41. “I am just trying to appreciate and take in every minute. I am a pretty outgoing person and I like talking to athletes from other sports and at the same time I am getting to see how international water polo operates.”

Rodriguez is working under head coach Dejan Udovicic. Rodriguez had no previous association with the Serbian-born coach who took over the men’s national program in May 2013 but Rodriguez has been working as head of the junior national (20-under) team since 2013. Since being appointed to that position Rodriguez has attended as many senior events as possible, whether it was just a practice or a training camp.

Just by being around, he got to know Udovicic so when the head coach decided to open up the other positions on the national team staff, Rodriguez was a logical selection.

“I really was just trying to broaden my water polo knowledge and learn as much as I could learn from being around the senior national team,” Rodriguez said. “I really wasn’t thinking about anything more than that but I got to know him and I guess I liked what he saw in me and we got along well so it went from there.”

The U.S. team is considered a long shot for a medal because of its inexperience. There are nine first-time Olympians, including two players a couple of months removed from high school — one of those Ben Hallock out of Harvard-Westlake. That’s unheard of on the men’s side but is the result of the U.S. having fielded a more veteran team in the previous Olympic cycle.

One of the few holdovers is Long Beach’s Tony Azevedo, 34, who is on his fourth Olympic team.

The logistics for the event in Rio aren’t perfect. The practice venue is almost two hours from the Olympic Village where the United States contingent has its own 13-floor building.

Rodriguez took part in the opening ceremonies, marching in with the water polo team near the front of the American group just a few yards from flag bearer Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian in history. Rodriguez stayed for the duration but said the players left after the parade of nations because they had their first game early the next day.

When the Olympics are done Rodriguez will be flying from Brazil to Montenegro for the World Youth Championships. Then its back to Pomona-Pitzer the first week in September. He took a sabbatical from that position the last year to devote full time to the Senior National Team.

Alex La, also with the Olympic team as a videographer, directed the college team in Rodriguez’ absence.

Rodriguez, who also coaches with the Foothill Water Polo Club, isn’t quite sure what his next career step will be. He has been in 15 countries the last 30 months and that doesn’t take into count multiple trips to the same country.

The travel has meant considerable time away from wife Kristen and their 14-month old son. His ultimate goal is to be head coach of the senior national team, but wants to spend more time close to home in the more immediate future.

“We want to have a second child and I want to concentrate on being a good husband and a good father like my father was to me,” he said. “So I’m not sure what will come next but this was an opportunity that doesn’t come around often.”

Michelle Gardner has covered high school sports and local colleges for the Daily Bulletin and Sun since 2002. She previously covered a wide variety of sports from the high school level to the professional ranks in Florida with tenures at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Naples Daily News and the Fort Myers News-Press and is graduate of the University of Florida.